Wichita eagle., 1887-06-08
THE TRAMP.

!, THE TRAMP.
A great many people in this city are an
noyed by tramps and the city fathers are
called upon to abate the nuisance of tramps
constantly annoying the family in the
dining room or kitchen for something to
eat. The course usually pursued by city
is to take up the tramp and fine him for
vagraney. OF course the tramp does not
have the necessary funds with which to
pay the fine and he is sent to the jail to
serve out his fine at one dollar per day. In
the mean time he is kept by the city. The
board furnished by the city in many cases
is superior to the fare obtained by him
prior to his imprisonment. The tramp is
not in general way favorable to physical
exercise, of the sort that wears out un-
necessarily his muscle. He is not by
nature lazy, but owing to his ideas of the
eternal fitness of things he will serve
out fine for vagrancy in the pol
ice station or county Jail with
resignation and apparent satisfac-
ton that is aggravating to behold.
He will move down back alley at rate
Of speed requiring a large amount of
physical exertion when the bark of the fe-
rocious house dog is heard in close prexim-
ity to his coat tail without any apparent in
jury to his system or natural dignity. To
perform the same amount of physical
exertion in some useful occupation or EN-
ployment that is required of the tramp in
plying his usual business, for pay, or for
| bread, he would never do. No sir, he
would rather die. He will rack his brain
and contrive thousand ways to obtain
bread to eat and clothes to wear. In this
| line he sometimes proves himself quite a
ge MUS. He studies iuman nature and in
vents stories, which he will relate and
study their effect. He expects his invent
i've genius in this line to earn his bread,
and he generally succeeds. If the tramp
fails in one attempt to get dinner by re-
peating his story, he takes his defeat about
as philosophical as a rail split
ter would do after an in
effectual attempt to split gum log. If
the tramp succeeds he no more feels great
full to his benefactor than the fisherman
feels greatful to the stream that furnishes
the fish. When the tramp succeeds in
dead beating some charitable inclined
person, he regards it as proof of his
superior mental ability and regards his
benefactor as a lower order of humanity,
who ought to feel honored by his cende
sending to eat meal with him. For the
honest laboring man the tramp entertains
supreme contempt. This is point upon
which a goodly number of people need
information. The poor man who gets out
Of money and food and starts out to hunt
employment, and perhaps beg meal on
the way is not tramp. The tramp will
live where an honest laboring man, in
search of employment, will starve to death.
The tramp is product Of our institutions.
He is product Of our prosperity and SUI
perior abundance The cast off surplus
flesh Of the bone and muscle and nerve of
the energy of this land. A child raised in
luxury and taught that labor is dishonorable;
that he is of a superior order Of
human beings to be provided for, will be-
come tramp in seven cases cut of ten if |
thrown on his own resources after he be
comes twenty five years Old For this he !
is not solely to blame. A cause always |
produces an effect And the effect in this |
case will be to turn the man to everything |
else for substance before work. The bird |
that has been kept in fine cage and fed
from silver dish until it is two years old, |
If turned out will be likely to starve to
death before ii learns TO search for living |
in any other way than finding it in silver |
dish We once heard farmer telling 8
story of two tramp cats. He said he once
had an old Lucy cat that was the finest rat
ter he had ever known The old cat. he
said, kept the entire farm clear of rats and |
then commenced to clean out the rabbits On
a creek about mile from the house This
old cat was the mother of two very fine
yellow kittens The old gentlemen
thought they being very fine would be all
the cats needed on that farm, so all future
Iufantile cats that made their appearance on
that farm were promptly killed. But said
the farmer, that old mother Cat kept on
bringing rabbits to those big kittens for
nearly two years. They became large, fine
cats, but they were tramp cats. He said
they stayed under the house all the time,
aud when the old cat failed to furnish rab-
bits they squalied so much and so loud
that he could not sleep at night The far
mer said, now l will teach those tramp
cats thing or two, and he went and put
the old cat in the smoke house; and he
said those two tramp cats sal there and
sQualled and squalled for more than week.
They became mere skeletons, when from
pure pity he went cut and fed the tramp
cats. He said they are now fine cats, but
they are useful like any other tramps sim
ply in an ornamental way.